Lets talk electric bikes, either bicycle style or motorcycle style.
Are there any that are worth getting or are they still just overpriced novelties?
>>948106
Use your legs like a normal human you gigantic fat ass.
>>948106
>Are there any that are worth getting or are they still just overpriced novelties?
There are some that are worth buying, mainly the high end ones. At lower price points it makes more sense to build your own, it's more cost efficient and you get more control over component choices so you don't end up with something like a department store bike with a motor slapped on it.
It's fairly easy to do with plenty of full kits available and the cost can be fairly low at under £400 for a lower powered conversion (250-500w). My "500w" bike cost me around £800 with about a 50/50 split between the electric kit and the rest of the bike.
>>948106
Gawd dauym that's an ugly "bike" if there ever was one. Why do try-hard designers keep doing this shit?
She rides the bike with heels?
>Schwalbe proffesional bike tires
Good choice
>>948106
>Lets talk electric bikes
Let's not.
>>948106
...nobody who has ever ridden a bicycle thinks that bike looks good.
>>948160
I think it looks good and if it had a more powerful motor it'd actually be fun to ride. As it is that tiny motor isn't really enough to make up for the ineffective riding position.
>electric bike
>carbon
It's like a deathwish
I agree, damn that's ugly. How are you going to get into a motorcycle posture while having to pedal? I'd be embarrassed for whoever I saw riding that. And get out of my bike lane, holy shit. I'm all for electric bikes that are close to a normal bicycle design since it allows people to ride who otherwise couldn't, but fuck off with those motorcycle/motor-scooter designs.
>>948169
How so? They won't go faster than a pro rider
>>948178
They leverage the dropouts tremendously
>>948205
It's only a piddly ~250w motor. The "dropouts" on that frame look substantial enough, for all we know they could be aluminium or steel bonded into that carbon frame (can't really see much as it's all covered up, I'm not sure how you'd even get to the axle nuts).
Also just because it's carbon doesn't mean it's weak, in fact pound for pound a carbon frame is going to be stronger than any metal.
>>948178
Pro riders are experienced and know how to handle the bike. Electric gives you the speed without the wisdom.
Actually, pro riders crash all the time. Forget what I said. On the other hand, pro riders will never ride a crashed bike again, whereas a casual ebike rider probably would. That makes it much more likely to break.
>>948106
They're overpriced novelties.
For what a real one costs (not some shitty kit you bolt onto a normal bicycle, which is dangerous as fuck and a piece of shit) you can buy a decent small used motorcycle, and be much safer (lights, brakes, signals, etc), and have better range.
>>948223
The same can be said more motorbikes. If people want to ride faster than they can handle that's a problem with them, not the bike that they're on. There are even hills that can propel pedal bikes to dangerous speeds regardless of how good or powerful the rider is. Shit, you don't even need to be going stupidly fast to be going too fast.
>>948247
>not some shitty kit you bolt onto a normal bicycle, which is dangerous as fuck and a piece of shit
Sometimes, not always. Don't discount them just because some people are idiots and slap high powered kits on department store bikes.
>>948247
Completely false equivalency.
What electric bike looks the most like an a non-electric so I can continue being a fat ass?
Direct me to the website, thanks
T. Fat ass who hates pedaling uphill
>>948291
Why does it have to look like a non-electric? If you're embarrassed a lot of people are still going to be able to tell as you'll be going much faster uphill, it'll sound like a milk float, and you can only hide a large motor and battery so well.
>>948298
Just shit posting, pedalling uphill sucks but I can deal with it
It sucks you have to ride many miles on a regular bicycle to lose weight because a decent bike is so efficient and takes such little work to move great distances
>>948301
If you actually want to lose weight (I'm not sure if you're speaking from personal experience or just making a point) then as well as exercising simply eat less. Taking in an extra 1000 kcal a day isn't particularly hard, burning it off is
I have a pretty good seat on my bicycle, is there anything I can do to experience less butt hurt other than cycling shorts and standing up every now and then?
>>948305
Get a BMX. Sprint the whole time.
>>948247
They do have kits that aren't crap, but they need to be paired with bicycles that aren't crap as well.
>>948247
This. As soon as you're at a high enough price range for the kit/bike to not suck, you're well within range of good scooters, mopeds, and motorcycles that will do the same job you're trying to use the e-bike for but better.
If you're on a tight enough budget and can't have both a motorbike and bicycle, and are thinking that you can use an e-bike kit as a way of bundling your motorized commuter-transportation budget and recreational cycling budget into one, then you're tight enough on money that it's smarter to just forgo the luxury of a motor altogether and bicycle commute the old-fashioned way.
E-bikes are still firmly in the category of novelty items/luxury goods. They're neat and fun, but can't reasonably be called practical.
>>948344
I'm the guy that posted my electric bike earlier in this thread, a fairly decent one that's far from a piece of shit. For the £800 or so it cost me I could get an okay moped I suppose, nothing great but it'd do the job. The thing is it'd then cost me like another £300 or so to insure it, a bit over £100 to get my licence (plus another £50 if I didn't have my provisional licence), something like £20 for tax per year, a yearly MOT which is something like £50-70, any maintenance costs (which will probably be higher than a bicycle), and finally fuel costs.
I think I'm in my second year of having this bike now, so if I'd have gone with a moped of the same value it would've already cost me at least another £770, not including fuel costs as I couldn't even begin to guess how much that'd be.
In the coming years that cost would continue to increase substantially, and all for a bike that wouldn't be all that much quicker for the trip's I do. On top of that I can't ride it like I regular bike, with my buddies that ride, off road, on cycle paths, etc. For me it makes more sense than a moped.
>>948305
Setting up your saddle properly
>>948115
>>948395
That looks like a 1000W motor. Have you ever been stopped by the po-lice? I know the law states a max of 250W, so the ideal e-bike would have two modes, and could alternate between legal and illegal with a flick of a switch in case police stop you.
I am thinking of picking up a kit on ebay, direct from the ching chong. How much and what kind of battery should I pony up for m8?
>>948403
It's a 36v "500w" kit, on a fresh battery it'll put out just over 700w. Never been stopped by the police but I've only ridden past them like two or three times. I don't ride like a dick and my speed is usually not that much faster than a decent rider on a road bike, most of the time the bikes putting out under 300w and I only give full throttle when accelerating or climbing a hill.
The controller for mine has 5 power levels and I usually have it on 3 which limits it to a tad over 300w on a fresh battery, the thumb throttle overrides the limit and will vary the power based on how far it's pushed. I can also limit the assistance speed which I used to do just in case I got pulled over.
Mine was off Ebay but from a UK seller, just under £400 as I mentioned before. I'm not sure I could recommend going for a 250w one unless you can get the weight down significantly.
>>948175
Underrated Post.
I'm looking at getting an e-bike, but the prices are absurd for what you're getting. I think it'd be great for me because I could ride it places I couldn't ride a motorcycle, go much faster than I could pedal (or at least save sweating), and it'd be portable enough for me to carry up/down stairs.
Heading to Asia soon, so I'll probably find a Chinese one much cheaper than what they're making here in the US.
>>948742
>it'd be portable enough for me to carry up/down stairs.
You do realise that most of them are significantly heavier than normal bikes? Sure, it's possible to carry them but it's not something you'd want to be doing every day.
>>948106
There is a literal electric bicycle craze here in Europe. A lot of elderly people buy those. The prices are around the same as you would pay for a good bicycle. There are even supermarket E-bikes now for 600-700 bucks.
I think they are a good thing, more people cycling is always a good thing.
Also, I would have assumed that they'd be much more popular in the States, because, well you know, fat people who use their cars to get to their own mailbox...
so i may have been screwed over by BIONX, how easily could i replace individual cells for my tube mounted battery? what if i wanted to add more cells? would their BMS complain there are too many amprehours?
could i extend my pedelec range from 45 km to something crazy like 200?
>>948395
I think unlicensed and unregulated e-bikes are detrimental. Their higher risk of accident, injury, or misuse will affect access to roads and trails and the cost of non-motor assisted bicycling.
Greater speed without greater control. Lack of education because no licensing. No uniform safety standards because no registration.
E-bikes will become a nuisance and then all bicycles will face restrictions on road and trail usage.
>>948301
>many miles
no
Just do hill repeats or sprint intervals
>>948783
I think most civilised countries have regulations regarding electrically assisted bikes. Here in the UK the legal limit is 250w and 25 km/h (15.5 mph), a speed which most people can exceed regardless of their bike handling skills. Anything more than that is legally classified as a motorcycle for road use and carries the same licensing and registration requirements.
Other than the steps already taken the only thing they could do is to ban electrically assisted bikes altogether, harming a lot of riders and businesses.
You're argument is not against e-bikes, it's against idiots that just so happen to ride e-bikes. Unfortunately idiots exist and they also ride unassisted bikes too.
>>948106
In the netherlands they are selling e-bikes like hotcakes esp. to elderly people which in turn get into accidents with them and break mad hips bro.
>>948223
I've crashed my carbon enduro bike multiple times. I even broke the frame (but that wasn't from a crash, it was from jumping off something) and got the frame fixed. Mountain bikes are involved in crashes sometimes and who the fuck will replace a mtb after every crash? Faggot.
>>948106
She looks like a fuckin downtube imo
>>948880
>crashed frames are more likely to break than not-crashed frames
>pro riders will dispose of a frame they've crashed and grab a fresh one
Which of these two facts are you disputing?
>>948999
Not who you're replying to.
>crashed frames are more likely to break than not-crashed frames
That depends on the extent of the crash, and it applies regardless of the material. A carbon frame can certainly take a crash with no structural damage, just like aluminium/ti/steel.
>pro riders will dispose of a frame they've crashed and grab a fresh one
They also don't pay for them. I would gladly trade my beat up but structurally sound aluminium frame for a brand new one if it was free.
I would gladly ride a carbon frame that's been crashed, same goes for any other material. Of course I'd check it over carefully just like I do with any second hand part and if there's any meaningful damage I'd either not take it or get it repaired if economical to do so.
>>948783
you are such a nerd why are so many cyclists commies?
>>949000
>That depends on the extent of the crash, and it applies regardless of the material.
Mode of failure matters, though, and for carbon that usually means snapping and for metals it's usually bending. Bending is far less dangerous than snapping. Also, logically, there is an effect regardless of the extent of the crash, but the size of the effect is what's dependent.
>They also don't pay for them. I would gladly trade my beat up but structurally sound aluminium frame for a brand new one if it was free.
Yea, that's pretty much my point. If you're an amateur who can't afford to treat frames as disposable, and if you're also likely to crash, a carbon bike isn't the best choice.
>nice trips
>>949009
>Yea, that's pretty much my point. If you're an amateur who can't afford to treat frames as disposable, and if you're also likely to crash, a carbon bike isn't the best choice.
Then why the fuck are high-end mountain bikes made of carbon dumbass? A crashed carbon road bike should maybe not be re-used but a crashed carbon enduro bike should absolutely be reused.
>>949011
>Then why the fuck are high-end mountain bikes made of carbon dumbass?
Manufacturers pushed them, that's why. Alloy bikes undisputedly have a longer life.
> A crashed carbon road bike should maybe not be re-used but a crashed carbon enduro bike should absolutely be reused.
Ok, but this thread is about retarded looking ebikes
>>949009
>Mode of failure matters, though, and for carbon that usually means snapping
You can usually tell before that happens such as noticing cracks, creaking, more flex than usual which in turn could cause other noticeable changes. As I said the bike should be thoroughly checked after the crash and you should be mindful of any changes in how it rides.
If you're worried about the frame snapping during the crash then really that's the least of your worries, if the crash is bad enough to do that then you're going down hard and could end up being just as broken as the bike.
>If you're an amateur who can't afford to treat frames as disposable, and if you're also likely to crash, a carbon bike isn't the best choice.
Carbon isn't the issue, weak as shit weight weenie frames are. A carbon frame can be just as strong as a metal one, even stronger for the same weight (there's a video on Youtube testing a carbon MTB frame against a similar aluminium one from the same manufacturer, the latter folds under much less force). Not every carbon frame is like that and there's no reason to assume the OP's frame is.
I think if you're on /n/ then you already know the answer. Personally, I'd only ever consider an e-bike with electronic assist if I had a long commute with really steep uphill, I'm not opposed to riding up hills but I don't want to completely exhaust myself in the morning.. it would be nice to have the option of easymode. However, I don't have a terribly long commute and the hills in it are rolling and not super steep long climbs.
I think that e-bikes could definitely empower many non cyclists and elderly people to get onto a saddle and out of their car, this will have varying results as many of those people will be super fucking annoying to ride with.
>>949014
>Alloy bikes undisputedly have a longer life [than carbon].
>>949014
>Ok, but this thread is about retarded looking ebikes
Not anymore. Rule 25.
>>949074
This. The guy that you replied to is a downtuber.
I have an electric folding bike, it offsets the downsides of a folding bike enough to make it as useful as a full sized cycle. Most of the time, I'm riding so fast that the assistance doesn't even kick in but it's pretty useful on hills where the tiny pedals without clips of any kind would otherwise be a hassle.
I went with a folder because my apartment has a dogleg on the stairs that prevents getting a full sized up there and it's pretty much guaranteed that anything left outside overnight will be gone by morning. Some crooked fucker once knocked down a lamp post with their truck just to get at the cheap piece of shit locked to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF0rqlgdaHM
>>948106
Looks sexy as hell, but uncomfortable to ride.
where would i start if i wanted to build my own pedelec assist bike to outright replace any need for a cargo vehicle cappaible of carrying potentially 170+ kilograms of me and my best bud (groceries\parts\scrap recycling salvage) in moderately hilly terrain
>>948106
bitch forgot to rotate her handlebar up
